Laser beam pointing tests

Laser beam pointing tests for lunar communication and rangefinding and tracking using Surveyor 7 vidicon camer

WISP information display system user's manual

The wind shears program (WISP) supports the collection of data on magnetic tape for permanent storage or analysis. The document structure provides: (1) the hardware and software configuration required to execute the WISP system and start up procedure from a power down condition; (2) data collection task, calculations performed on the incoming data, and a description of the magnetic tape format; (3) the data display task and examples of displays obtained from execution of the real time simulation program; and (4) the raw data dump task and examples of operator actions required to obtained the desired format. The procedures outlines herein will allow continuous data collection at the expense of real time visual displays

Does haste make waste? The human factors of overtaking land design

The aim of this research was to improve overtaking safety and efficiency through improvements in road signage, markings, geometry and speed control associated with the placement and layout of passing lanes. The approach of the research was to explore the effects of several types of overtaking lane treatments in the safety and controlled environment of a state-of-the-art driving simulator. It was found that under the most benign conditions there were no differential effects of the three treatments. With poorer visibility or more taxing road geometry, the drivers relied more heavily on the road markings and signage and the effects of the treatments become more pronounced. The sensitivity to the more "challenging" situations was borne out by the greater speed differential between merge area sections at these sites

The far field diffraction pattern for corner reflectors with complex reflection coefficients

The far field diffraction pattern of a geometrically perfect corner reflector is examined analytically for normally incident monochromatic light. The states of polarization and the complex amplitudes of the emerging light are expressed through transformation matrices in terms of those of the original incident light for each sextant of the face in a single coordinate system. The analytic expression of the total diffraction pattern is obtained for a circular face. This expression consists of three component functions in addition to the basic Airy function. The coefficient of each function is expressed in terms of complex coefficients of reflectance of the reflecting surface. Some numerical results for different reflecting surfaces, including total internal reflection, are presented. The iso-intensity contours of the diffraction pattern evaluated from the analytical expressions for an uncoated solid corner reflector are also presented along with the photographs of the pattern

Shuttle time and frequency transfer experiment

A proposed space shuttle experiment to demonstrate techniques for global high precision comparison of clocks and primary frequency standards is described. The experiment, using transmitted microwave and pulsed laser signals, compared a hydrogen maser clock onboard the space shuttle with a clock in a ground station in order to demonstrate time transfer with accuracies of 1 nsec or better and frequency comparison at the 10 to the -14th power accuracy level